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Baalat

Baalat is a designation from Semitic languages meaning “lady” or “mistress,” formed from the root ba’al “lord” with the feminine suffix -at. In ancient Near Eastern religion, Baalat is not a single universally fixed deity but a title applied to various female divine figures or consorts of male gods in Canaanite and Phoenician contexts.

In Ugaritic, Phoenician and related literature, figures named Baalat function as female divine figures associated with

The best-attested instance is Baalat Gebal, “Lady of Byblos,” the city goddess of Byblos (modern Jbeil, Lebanon).

Biblical usage shows the term ba‘alot as a plural referring to female deities in general, and the

See also: Baal (deity), Asherah, Astarte, Byblos, Baalat Gebal.

fertility,
kingship,
or
city
cults,
often
in
relation
to
a
male
god
such
as
Baal.
The
exact
status
and
identity
of
Baalat
vary
by
locale
and
text;
some
references
treat
Baalat
as
a
distinct
goddess,
while
others
use
the
term
as
a
generic
epithet
for
a
city’s
goddess.
Inscriptions
and
archaeological
remains
connect
her
worship
to
the
cultic
center
of
Byblos
and
to
the
figure
of
Baal
in
the
city’s
religious
tradition.
Her
cult
illustrates
how
city
goddesses
could
function
within
broader
pantheons
that
included
male
deities.
name
Baal
itself
is
used
in
prophetic
writings
to
denote
Canaanite
fertility
gods
in
a
polemical
context.
In
modern
scholarship,
Baalat
is
studied
as
part
of
the
wider
examination
of
female
divine
figures
in
ancient
Near
Eastern
religion
and
their
interaction
with
male
gods.